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Shale wildcatters may join Wilds menagerie

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoFILE PHOTOThe Wilds, home to hundreds of exotic animals such as these Sichuan Takin, is built on reclaimed strip-mined land. The facility, managed by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, is a breeding facility.

For more on the oil and gas that might lie beneath the Wilds conservation center, watch Dispatch environmental reporter Spencer Hunt on WBNS-10TV between 6:30 and 7 this morning, or go to 10TV.com.

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Oil and natural-gas companies eager to tap Ohio’s Utica shale insist that “fracking” poses no
threat to people, but what about giraffes, rhinos and zebras?

Visitors to the Wilds in Guernsey and Muskingum counties might soon see drilling rigs among the
menagerie.

American Electric Power leased the mineral rights beneath the Wilds to Anadarko Petroleum on
Sept. 29. It was part of a larger deal that gave the Texas-based drilling company access to 150,000
acres of AEP-owned mineral rights in eastern Ohio.

There already are conventional drilling rigs on the property, but shale drilling and fracking —
the process in which millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are sent down wells to
fracture the shale and free trapped oil and gas — have sparked an intense environmental debate.

Surging interest in Ohio’s Utica shale has created a modern-day land rush. Drilling companies
are offering bonuses of $2,000 to $5,000 per acre to get landowners to sign leases. That’s on top
of annual royalty payments for any oil and gas the wells produce.

Terms of the AEP lease were not disclosed, but Hemlepp said financial statements the company
filed this year show it will receive about $15 million over the next seven years for leasing the
mineral rights. AEP also will be paid royalties, but Hemlepp said he could not estimate the amount
of those payments.

AEP could have received substantially more in bonus payments, but Hemlepp said Marietta-based
Artex Oil currently holds a mineral-rights lease on most of the 150,000 acres, including the Wilds,
where it operates several conventional oil and gas wells. It’s not clear how much Artex made in the
deal.

Environmental advocates argue that spills and poorly designed wells can poison streams,
groundwater and wildlife. Industry officials say they take appropriate steps and safety measures to
ensure that won’t happen.

Schmidt said there are a number of issues to consider.

“Whether it is lights or noise (from a 24-hour-a-day operation) or it’s an environmental thing,
that’s always something we monitor very closely.” Schmidt said. “You want to have a normal light
sequence out there because that is a breeding facility.”

Christiansen said Anadarko has put up sound and light barriers around drill sites. In some
cases, it has reduced operating hours at rigs.

“That’s something that we build into our plans as we go into operations,” he said. “We really do
try to do everything we can.”

The Wilds sits atop reclaimed strip-mine land that AEP donated for use as a wildlife park and
research center.

Of 127 shale-drilling permits the state has issued since 2009, none is located within the Wilds.
Anadarko currently holds six permits located just south and east of the park.

Records show the company has drilled one well and is drilling two more, all east of the
Wilds.

“We knew that they were fracking in that area,” Schmidt said. “We have an opportunity to study
it very closely.”